As If
by pukaroxliza
Summary: A simple sentence completely changes the course of Hermione Granger's afternoon


A/N disclaimer: don't own anything! I got this idea after watching HBP for the eightieth time haha, hope you like it!

As If

Hermione Granger closed the door behind her carefully, biting her lip, the tears that had been threatening to spill from her eyes for the past hour slowly falling down her cheeks. She didn't understand how one simple statement from Ronald Weasley could affect her so much, yet there she was. She locked the door behind her, not really wanting any of her roommates to walk in and see her in that state, especially Lavender Brown. She was completely aware of the girls enormous infatuation with Ron, and although she understood it completely she often got tired of endless squeals into the night followed by things like 'He totally looked at me today!'

Letting herself fall on her bed she let out an agonizing sob, clutching her pillow to her chest. She should have guessed that was how he would react to what she had said, and personally she knew that she had simply set herself up for what had happened, but still she would have felt better if she hadn't heard what he had said to Harry.

'Did you hear what she said about me and her snogging? As if'

The words had been replaying in her head since he had said them. It shouldn't bother her, it really shouldn't. It was obvious that he would think that, after all she was just his know-it-all best friend that he got into constant spats with. But still, to hear him say it straight out like that…

It had been hard enough to watch Katie Bell wither in agony and to find out that she had not only been cursed but almost killed, but it had been even harder seeing as she had been on the verge of tears the entire time that they were being interrogated by McGonagall.

She was sure that Harry had noticed, he seemed to notice lots of things, but Ronald had just been so damn oblivious to the range of emotions burning inside of her that it just made her want to punch him in the face.

After ten minutes of discussing the whole Katie thing with Harry and Ron she had decided that she couldn't take it anymore and had excused herself. She was sure her voice had cracked, but at this point she almost didn't care. It wasn't as if either would suspect the real reason behind why she was feeling so miserable.

"Hermione?" she heard Ron's voice from the other side of the door. Hermione's heart gave a jolt. No, she had heard wrong, that couldn't be Ron; Ron wouldn't come to look for her. It had to be Harry.

"Hermione?" he repeated. Again she was sure that she had heard wrong. Ron was the reason she was sad, so of course she thought that it was him coming to comfort her, but she knew him well enough that he wouldn't do that. It wasn't his style.

"Hermione, come on, I know you're in there… bloody hell you girls…" this time there was no doubt that it had been Ron who was talking. Hermione groaned, not wanting him to hear her crying.

"Go away!" she screamed.

"Are you crying?" he asked after a few seconds of silence.

"No! Go away"

"Don't be so bloody proud. Let me in!" he said. Yes, this was definitely Ron. She sat up on her bed and glanced at her reflection in the mirror.

"Ugh" she groaned. Her normally messy hair seemed even worse than ever, and her eyes were all red and puffy. She thanked God that she never wore make-up, or she would probably have huge black streaks running down her cheeks.

"Hermione, please, open the door and tell me what's wrong"

"No!" she decided, not wanting him to see her that way.

"Fine, then don't open the door, just tell me what's wrong. Is it the Katie thing?"

"What do you think?" she asked, hoping that he would just take it as her sarcastic way of saying yes.

"Honestly? I think it's something else. You and Katie aren't exactly the closest of friends. Have you ever even talked to her?"

"You are NOT helping Ronald"

"Well let me in! Please"

She sighed and walked towards the door, unlocking it and swinging it open. Sure enough, there he was, a small smile on her face, looking down at her. Harry wasn't anywhere in sight.

"God, Hermione…" he said, biting his lip. Hermione rolled her eyes, feeling the tears welling up again.

"I know I look horrible Ron, but thank you for reminding me" she said, slamming the door in his face. She heard him groan.

"Oh, come on Hermione! Even I'm not that insensitive!"

"But you don't deny thinking it" she whispered back, knowing that if she screamed at him all she would accomplish would be starting the tears up again.

"Hermione, please open the door and tell me what's wrong"

"What, so you can gape at how horrible I look? You know, as tempting as that is…"

"I wasn't going to tell you that you looked horrible" mumbled Ron. A tear fell from her right eye.

"Liar"

"I'm not lying! Please let me in Hermione"

Hermione sighed and opened the door again, her arms crossed in front of her chest.

"What?"

"What's wrong? You were fine until a few minutes ago and then you suddenly excuse yourself with no reason… it's not like you. Besides, I noticed your voice crack"

"You mean Harry noticed my voice crack and told you" she said, glaring at him.

"No, I noticed. What I didn't seem to have noticed was that you seemed off since we left the Three Broomsticks"

"And Harry told you?"

"Yeah. What happened?" he asked. Hermione took a deep breath.

"Nothing happened and if something had happened I sure as hell wouldn't tell you of all people about it"

"Come on 'Mione! I'm your best friend!"

"Why are you up here again? Isn't Harry normally the one who comes to help me with my boy troubles?" she cursed herself silently, closing her eyes. Well, now he knew.

"Boy troubles is it?"

"See! This is why I didn't want to tell you, all you're going to do is make fun of me" she started to close the door, but he stopped the door with his hand and leaned in towards her.

"Hermione, if you're still angry about the Yule Ball thing…"

"Oh, yes Ronald, I just remembered you ruining a very special night for me two years ago and decided to come up here and cry about it" she rolled her eyes.

"I meant, if you aren't talking to me about this because of what happened at the Yule Ball…"

"No, that's not why. It's mainly because you wouldn't understand, and you would make fun of me"

He seemed to think for a second, and then something seemed to click in his head.

"I know what happened"

"No, you don't," she said, rolling her eyes again.

"It was seeing Dean with Ginny… 'Mione? Do you have a crush on Dean or something?"

Hermione got a disgusted look on her face.

"No, I do not have a crush on Dean, and it doesn't have anything to do with seeing Dean and Ginny together" she wondered how in the world somebody could be so stupid.

"Then what is it?"

"Do you really want to know?"

"Of course"

"Well, I do like someone, but it isn't Dean, it's a really good friend of mine, and he recently told one of his friends that he didn't want me and he thought I couldn't hear him but I could and even though I already knew it really hurt to hear him say straight out" she took a deep breath.

"And this was… after the Three Broomsticks" he asked, looking as if he was slowly putting the pieces together.

"Yes"

"But… the only guys that you could have heard say something were… Oh God" he covered his face with his hands.

Wonderful, he had figured it out; he wasn't as stupid as he let on. Now of course he would never look at her the same way again and would only talk to her awkwardly trying to make her feel like it wasn't weird for him. Her jaw set.

"Alright, well, you've obviously figured it out, so claps for you, now if you don't mind, I'm just going to…" she started to close the door, but he stopped her again, and once again leaned in towards her, only this time was different then the first time.

"So… you heard what this guy you liked said to his friend about… not wanting you? What exactly did he say?"

"You already know" she spat at him. She couldn't believe he was teasing her.

"Oh that's right… did you hear what she said about her and me snogging, as if. Hmmm… well, have you ever stopped to think that he might have not even meant it?"

"Trust me, this guy wouldn't lie to his best friend"

"Wouldn't he?" he asked, leaning closer to her. She swallowed the spit in her mouth, her heart beating fast.

"No, he wouldn't"

"Well then I think you've gotten the wrong impression of me" he said as he closed the space between them, pressing his lips to hers. Butterflies started to flutter around inside of her stomach and she simply let Ron kiss her, not even bothering to kiss back. When Ron pulled away, there was a smug smile on his face.

"You see? Maybe that guy was simply trying to make his friend more comfortable with the situation. You do know how awkward it would be for two of your best friends to suddenly start dating, don't you?"

"Almost as awkward as say your best friend dating your sister?" asked Hermione, raising an eyebrow. Ron looked at her confused.

"Huh?"

"Never mind" she said, and then she got on her tiptoes and brushed her lips against his. He opened the door for her and held his hand out to her. She took it, smiling and let him lead her down to the Gryffindor common room. Harry was sitting by the fireplace, glaring at Dean and Ginny who were doing homework together.

"Hey Harry" said Hermione brightly. Harry smiled up at her.

"Hey, Hermione! Feeling better?"

Hermione nodded, "Yes, Ron actually was able to help me a lot"

Harry glanced at Ron and then at Hermione, obviously noticing the idiotic grin on both of their faces. He raised an eyebrow and smirked.

"What's going on guys?" he asked, and Ron and Hermione glanced at each other.

"Whatever do you mean Harry?" asked Ron.

"Well, it's just that you looked like you've just snogged or something"

"Me and her? Snogging?" asked Ron, letting out a sarcastic laugh and smiling down at Hermione, "As if"


End file.
